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Archive for July 16th, 2007

I’m feeling a bit “undone” myself at the moment – a fortnight into the smoking ban and thus a fortnight into my latest attempt to forego the evil weed. How can I possibly do a crossword down the pub at lunchtime without a small cigar as well as a pint? By having another pint instead of course. So pencils are being chewed more ferociously than ever, but not so much because of this crossword, which I found relatively easy to finish once I got stuck in. There are some nice anagrams here. Read the rest of this entry »

O,A,FISH,NESS – “o” is a short form of “of”. Good clue to get us going.

10

(ACTIONS IN A LAB IN)* – CANNIBALISATION has a few meanings, apart from the obvious grisly one.

12/13

SC,(JONATHAN ROSS LET)* – Excellent clue and a really good anagram. That said, I filled the answer in without really understanding why, apart from vaguely thinking that the letters of “Jonathan Ross” plus a few others could make SCARLETT JOHANSSON. Even after I worked out the anagram that still left SC to be accounted for which Chambers online says is a shortened form of “scilicet” (Latin for “namely” – or, in this clue, “to wit”).

15

AGOG,O – I don’t really get the definition for this one: “Name often found in nightclub“.

17

hidden in “awfUL TRAgedy”

18

LSE,A in ALTER – only just worked this one out: “not with standing [room]” = ALL-SEATER.

19

NOT,E BOOK

26

(APART EXIT)*,E – nice idea and I think it mostly works although the surface reading (“Who’s moving apart, exit to Spain?“) is a bit creaky.

(BRILLIANT GOALS NIL -ALL)* – STIRLING ALBION, behomoths of the Scottish League. I liked “not exactly” as an anagram indicator. Also, “not exactly brilliant” seems like a precise description of the team (apologies to any fans out there).

4

NO,AH(oy)

7

FINK<,E

8

(NO PORT IN I)* – PINOT NOIR. Good clue, nice surface reading.

13

JO,URN,EYED

16

(A DOCTORS)*,A – OSTRACODA. Got this one wrong. It was the last one I filled in so I had O?T?A?O?A and I knew it had to be an anagram of A DOCTORS with an A at the end. I think I went for OCTRASODA (it’s hard to tell as I filled on the correct answer over the top of my incorrect one) – anyway, I wasn’t convinced so I checked the other most likely combinations of letters until I found the right one. I have to say I was amazed to find the word in the Concise OED.

22

EG,DOH< – a Hodge is a “typical agricultural English labourer” according to the Concise OED. I think I’ve got the wordplay right – I’ve assumed that “D’oh” would be Homer Simpson’s form of “Oh dear”.